The Fault In Our Stars star Ansel Elgort is not only a successful actor, but also a growing force in the world of electronic music. Going by the name of Ansolo, the 21-year-old producer, DJ and actor has been making music for several years now and that hard work is starting to pay off with the announcement that he has just signed a deal with Island Records.
Though Island Records is not traditionally known for its electronic music, they are building a small army of DJs on their roster. They made a big splash signing Avicii a few years ago and all of the artists associated with him on the At Night Management family have had their releases distributed through Island.
The next step is to put out his single "To Life," which Ansolo has been rinsing out in his sets recently and then he will be release a four-track EP. He is currently working with some topliners to get some vocals on them.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Elgort, shared his experience interacting with Island Records and why he went ahead and signed with them.
"I played them some tracks and said, 'These are more poppy. These are more clubby. These are more radio-friendly.' The ones that were more radio-friendly, they were like, 'No, we've heard this before. We want the different ones. We want the special records.' I was like, 'Major labels aren't supposed to like these records!' I thought the point of a major label was to just release crap! But Island totally proved that wrong and was like, 'We want the best record that all the kids at the dance-music festivals are going to love.'"
Ansolo wants to assure everyone that he is doing this because he love music and not just as an actor using his celebrity to be a DJ as a gimmick. I can actually attest to this as a young blogger several years back getting pretty bad demos from an unknown Ansolo and sending them back letting him know they weren't good enough. He recently performed an early afternoon set on the main stage at Electric Zoo this past weekend and did a surprise pop set with Skirts & Skins collaborator Pierce Fulton.
